


Behind the veil of happiness

by beta1alpha2omega3



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Platonic Ben/Evie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 09:54:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20289523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beta1alpha2omega3/pseuds/beta1alpha2omega3
Summary: Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos all have to cope with the prejudices of Auradon.Auradon was known for being inclusive and accepting of everyone, but if you look closely enough, through the veil of sunshine and happy endings, in the dark ugly cracks just beneath the surface, you can see the prejudice and small-minded mentalities that riddle the nation.  On the Isle, if you're strong, you're feared, there are no pre-determined titles that label you stronger or better because of things out of anyone's control.





	Behind the veil of happiness

**Author's Note:**

> Jaylos, malvie, and bal. Ben and Evie are friends. Evie abd carlos have a sibling like relationship.  
This is my first descendants fic, so be nice please.  
I started this before the 3rd movie came out.

Auradon was known for being inclusive and accepting of everyone, but if you look closely enough, through the veil of sunshine and happy endings, in the dark ugly cracks just beneath the surface, you can see the prejudice and small-minded mentalities that riddle the nation. On the Isle, if you're strong, you're feared, there are no pre-determined titles that label you stronger or better because of things out of anyone's control.

It had been jarring for the VK's when they had first arrived in Auradon seeing all these happy couples, that blended together, they all looked the same. There was no diversity in the couples they would see, it was one of the first things Mal noted. Men and women staring at each other with doe eyes, but never two women, never two men. 

The first thing Carlos noticed was the binary pattern that went to everything here. Everything was black and white, if you will. There were men and women, nothing outside or in-between, each expected to live by separate, but equally restrictive rules. Men played sports, women did home ec. Blue was for men while pink was for women.

The first thing Jay noticed was the very strict morals everyone there held. There was right, and there was wrong, nothing in-between, no grey area, jay lived in the moral grey areas, which made it especially hard for him to adjust and settle in at first.

Evie noticed the very restrictive fashion, the girls wore dresses or skirts while the men wore almost identical pants and blazers to one another. There was no freedom of expression here, if you did express yourself, you were outcast and teased, marginalized even. Fashion was on a spectrum here, except the spectrum had two ends with nothing in the middle, one end had "women's" clothes the other had "men's" and if you strayed from your end, you would become the center of all the gossip and probably teased mercilessly by the tourney team. If you're starting to see a pattern here, so did the VK's.

After cotillion the four villain kids settled back into their normal lives. Lonnie was becoming a regular in their friend group, she was a nice change from all the repetitive sights in Auradon. And Ben was a breath of fresh air, anything the kids suggested he considered and welcome with open arms, he wanted to be the best king he could possibly be for Auradon and he knew that the way to do it was to let go of his own biases and listen to every voice and every opinion he heard. Mal admired how he could accept everyone's opinion without judgment.

The group had made a picnic just outside the tourney field for lunch. Carlos came into view holding hands with Jane. He smiled at the group, "I Invited Jane to sit with us today, I hope that's okay." He said avoiding any eye contact and looking at the ground. Mal smiled at him.

"Yeah, we like Jane. Jay move over!" She commanded so that Jane would have a place to sit.

"Do I have to? She could literally sit anywhere else." Jay griped. Mal rolled her eyes at him and shoved him lightly.

"Just do it." Jay sighed and got up moving over next to Lonnie who gave him a small smile that said _'sorry'_. 

Jane sat down and Carlos followed. 

"So is everyone going to Camelot's annual carnival?" Jane asked in her signature small voice. The kids looked at her with confusion on their faces. 

"Oh, yeah. I was actually going to tell you about that tonight." Ben said to Mal. "Camelot has a carnival every year, they have games, rides, food. It's a bunch of fun and you guys should come." Ben was addressing the whole group now. "It's next Saturday and everyone's going to be there. I really hope you guys can come, all of you." He added.

"That sounds like so much fun! And of course, we'll all need new outfits." Evie said hoping the others would feel the same and she wouldn't be going alone. "Mal, will you go with me?" She asked her roommate. 

"Course E. We'll have to go on all the rides Carlos is scared of!" Mal had an evil grin on her face, but Evie looked uneasy.

"Maybe you and Jay should do the rides." Evie said looking nervously at Carlos, who gave her the same glance back. Evie quickly recovered, gaining her composure.

"Besides, It would mess up my hair." She said delicately placing her hands on her head almost as a subconscious way to make sure it was still perfect. Lonnie chimed in.

"I'll go! I go every year, but I have a feeling this year is going to be extra fun." She had a wide grin on her face.

"Let me guess, you want to watch all of us experience that stuff for the first time?" Jay asked.

"Well yeah, I bet Carlos's face will be priceless!" Lonnie said looking at the boy who was quickly turning pink from the sudden attention. 

"Well you're right about that, but you're gettin' nothing from me! I'm gonna make sure of it." Jay proclaimed, promising to hide any and all excitement at the fair, a promise he would soon break. 

"I heard that if you ride a rollercoaster you're head can fall off." Mal said with a hint of glee in her voice. Ben, Lonnie, and Jane all looked at her with a look that asked _'are you sure about that?'_ Carlos and Evie on the other hand looked terrified, subtly holding hands for support. Mal shrugged their looks off.

"Jay, Los' You coming?" She asked changing the subject.

"sure." Carlos nodded slightly. Jay shrugged.

"Yeah, why not."

~

Carlos was on his bed, his laptop on his lap, Dude at his feet. Jay was printing something on the 3D printer and staring angrily at one of his textbooks. Carlos gave him a quizzical look.

"You okay man?" Carlos asked. Jay turned around to give Carlos a frustratedly lost look.

"I need help." Jay said. Carlos looked at the book Jay was staring at. He gave an inward chuckle but tried to hide his amusement as to not embarrass Jay too much.

"I think that's because you're reading _my _homework." Carlos said sarcastically. Jay turned red. He read the cover 'Advanced Engineering.' He immediately felt embarrassed but laughed at his error all the same. 

"What are you trying to make anyway?" Carlos asked.

"Nothing!" Jay snapped, but quickly changed his tone when he saw his friends shocked face.

"Sorry Lo's, I didn't mean to... I mean, I don't know what I'm making, I was trying to follow you're stupid book." He said deflating. Carlos looked at the page he was on. 

"That page doesn't have you make anything." He said eyeing jay suspiciously.

"Wow, that makes a lot of sense now." Jay said hoping Carlos would leave it alone. luck was on his side, Dude stood up and pranced to the bedroom door.

"I have to pee." The dog said, drawing Carlos's attention away from Jay.

"Okay, just hold on." Carlos said making his way around piles of books and laundry, _Jays _laundry, flung across the floor. He opened the door and Dude ran down the hallway at top speed.

"out of my way! bladder emergency coming through!" The dog yelled at the people he passed.

Jay knew that it made Carlos uncomfortable when Dude talked, he had told Jay that he thought they communicated better without words. Jay also found it creepy when the dog talked, but he knew if he said anything, Carlos would immediately defend his pet and never talk to Jay about it again, which was the opposite of what Jay wanted. He liked when Carlos would confide in him, but he didn't know how to initiate it. As pointed out by Carlos on many occasions, Jay was not very eloquent with words, in fact, he often tried to avoid them. Jay didn't have much to say, and when he did, he preferred to cut to the chase. Now that didn't mean he doesn't like listening to Carlos talk with all of his fancy and unnecessary words. Jay liked listening to all of his friends talk, accasionally chiming in with a joking remark, but there was something about the way Carlos talked that Jay would just get lost in his words, literally, he would get lost. Jay never really payed too much attention to what Carlos was saying when he would go on about the gadgets he was working on or some math equation he finally figured out, Jay would just listen to the cadence of his friends voice. Whenever Jay felt lost or overwhelmed he would search for that voice, his laugh. And when Carlos wasn't talking he would find a way to touch him in some way or another, to ground himself. Jay quickly shut the printer off before Carlos could return with Dude. 

When Carlos came back Jay noticed he didn't have Dude with him. "Where's Dude?" Jay asked.

"He wanted to discuss the brand of dog food the school's been giving him, with Ben." Carlos said. He walked over to the foot of his bed, stood there for a second, and then fell onto it face down. He groaned. "How many people do you think will be at the carnival?" Carlos asked, his voice muffled from talking into his bed. Jay shrugged.

"I don't know, probably a lot I'd guess. But hey, you probably won't even notice the people, you'll be too busy staring at Jane." Jay tried not to sound bitter, he liked Jane and he liked Carlos having friends, he even liked how comfortable Carlos acted around her, but for reasons he didn't want to explore, he had felt a little jealous of Jane since she had started hanging around his roommate and showing interest in him, he couldn't exactly call Carlos is best friend, because, if he was being completely honest that place would always be reserved for Mal, but Carlos was still one of the most important people in Jay's life.

"What are you talking about?" Carlos asked him.

"Aren't you going with Jane? She's you're girlfriend now right? after cotillion?" Jay asked still fighting the bitter sound in his voice that he was pretty sure was still making its way into his words. Carlos looked at the ground.

"No, we decided we don't feel that way about each other. We're just friends." Carlos's voice was quiet, Jay thought he might not have heard it if he hadn't been listening for Carlos's answer. 

"But you guys were holding hands at lunch today?" Jay was confused, he was starting to feel like an idiot for assuming. 

"I hold Evies hand too, and she's like an older sister to me." Carlos said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Jay threw his hands up in surrender. He wasn't sure how to ask the big question on his mind so he thought he would ask a few more delicate questions that together would give him the answer he wanted.

"Do you want to be her friend? I mean, are you happy with that? Do you want to _just_ be her friend, or do you still want more?" Jay fumbled through his words.

"If you're asking if she dumped me? The answer is no. We just didn't understand that our feelings were just platonic. I think we also figured out that we're a little too similar, it's hard to have romantic feelings for someone that's basically yourself." Carlos said sheepishly he was worried he wasn't explaining things well, he was worried he might say something he didn't really feel because, to be honest, he still wasn't completely sure how he felt.

"I get it." Jay said, he made eye contact with Carlos, but Carlos quickly looked away. He had trouble looking into Jays eyes, there was something about the way he looked at Carlos that made Carlos's stomach ache. Jays eyes had this sparkle to them, and if you looked into them it was almost as if you could feel everything Jay had ever felt. Basically Jays eyes were very expressive and it made Carlos uncomfortable sometimes, but other times, they were his rock, if he was unsure of something all he needed to do was look into Jays eyes and all his fear would disappear for as long as he kept looking.

"people tend to think Lonnie and I are dating, but..." Jay chuckled and shook his head looking at the ground. "like you said, we're just way too similar. She's great, but we're too stubborn for each other." Carlos looked at Jay sheepishly.

"Thanks, Jay." He said.

"for what? " Jay wasn't really sure what Carlos was referring to.

"For being my friend." Carlos answered. "anyway, we should probably get some sleep." He said quick to change the subject. "Night Jay." He said climbing into his bed.

"Night Pup." Jay watched him get settled for a moment before going to his side of the room to change into pajamas.

~

"I heard you and Jane broke up. Are you doing alright?" Ben asked Carlos concerned. They were at Tourney practice and Ben and Carlos were on the bench resting. well, Ben was resting, and Carlos just hadn't been called in yet.

"Yeah, I'm okay, we both decided it just wasn't right." Carlos said. "I'm not sure I even really like... you know..." Carlos struggled but quickly decided against going through with his thought, and he backtracked. "she's just not really my type." He said quickly. The tourney players cheering pulled Carlos's attention back to the game. Ben looked where Carlos was watching, his eyes never leaving Jay. Everyone was crowded around Jay who had probably just done something cool, Ben couldn't know, he hadn't been paying attention, he was more focused on the conversation he had been having with Carlos. Jay looked over at Carlos and Smiled, Ben watched a blush creep up Carlos's neck. Realization dawned on him. Ben Nodded in understanding.

"You don't like any girls do you? It's not just Jane." Ben asked, a little cautious on how to approach this. Carlos's head snapped in Ben's direction, his eyes wide with fear.

"You can't say that here!" He said sharply.

"Why not? It's true isn't it?" Ben asked. Carlos grabbed Bens wrist and drug him away from the tourney field.

"You know I'm the team captain right? I can't really leave." Ben said, but Carlos brushed him off, leading Ben behind the bleachers.

"Jay or Chad will take over. Anyway, you can't say that kind of thing here! That's not a thing here! Auradonians only accept female-male relationships. It's really confusing actually." Carlos looked at the ground again. "On the Isle it doesn't matter who you sleep with. I mean, you know we don't date on the Isle, but people hook up a lot. No one cares about anyone else's business so it doesn't matter. you guys have so many rules regarding gender, did you know you only have _two_!? How insane is that!?"

"There are more than two genders?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, there's a bunch." Carlos's fury seemed to die down in that moment.

"Carlos, we do have people who don't just like the opposite gender, but I do see you're point, it's not exactly widely accepted here. Lonnie's father, Li Shang, is bisexual, and a lot of the guys on the team make fun of the Imperial Academy because of that." Ben said.

"Wait, what's bisexual?" Carlos asked.

"you know, likes both men and women? Do you guys not have that word on the Isle?" Carlos shook his head at Bens question.

"we don't really have labels."

"Oh. we have labels here but they're hardly ever used, since no one wants to talk about this stuff." Ben said. Carlos looked nervous again. He rubbed the back of his neck looking more awkward than Ben thought possible.

"So, what do you think I am?" Carlos asked.

"You just like guys right?" Ben asked. "we don't have a lot of terms but we have a few, maybe one can help you."

"Yeah, I mean I'm attracted to them, but I've only ever had a crush on one person." Ben Knew exactly who Carlos was talking about.

"Okay well I think gay is the closest thing I know of to call you, again, Auradon doesn't really like to talk about this stuff, so I don't know a whole lot." Carlos gave Ben a huge smile.

"Thanks! You know more than me." He said before running back to the tourney field.

The second Carlos got back, Jay came up next to him. "What was that? Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" 

"Yeah I'm fine, Jay. But please, enlighten me on how was I supposed to hurt myself when I never even got called up to play?" He asked sarcastically. Jay looked at him disapprovingly. 

"Then where did you go?" He asked.

"He was having a discussion with me about the carnival, he had some concerns." Ben interrupted. Carlos was glad for Bens interjection. Jay gave a nod in acknowledgement.

~

"Ben was asking about 'dating' rituals on the Isle." Mal said to Evie adding air quotations to her sentence. 

"Why?" Evie was sitting at their desk making a jacket for the outfit she was making Mal for the Carnival. 

"He said he wanted to better understand how the Isle works. But I feel in my gut that there's more to it." Mal said.

"What did you tell him?" Evie asked putting studs on the jean and leather purple and green jacket in her hands.

"I told him we'd talk about it later. I wanted to get your opinion."

"Are you going to tell him about _your_ love life or just the basic rundown of how _'dating' _works on the Isle?" Evie stopped what she was doing to look at Mal. Mal Sighed.

"I don't know." Mal sounded lost.

"Oh, honey. Come here." Evie stretched out her arms for a hug. Mal took Evie up on her offer, she leant down to hug Evie who was still sitting in her chair, after a minute Mal got uncomfortable and sat on Evies lap, she rested her head on her friends chest, pushing blue hair out of the way so to not pull Evies braids out. Mal loved Ben, but sometimes she missed cuddling with Evie in bed, the feeling of her curves pressed underneath Mals body. Evie had an aroma that smelled of vanilla and apples it was intoxicating and made Mal want to curl up and fall asleep on the other girl.

"What should I do?" Mal asked softly.

"I can't tell you that, but I can tell you that Ben is easy to talk to, and when you do talk to him, I'm sure you'll know what to say." Evie was always the best at advice, Mal was so grateful she had Evie, sometimes she didn't know what she would do if she didn't have Evie. Jay always knew what to say to make her feel better, Carlos could make her smile even in her darkest moments, but Evie was the one that always told her what she needed to do, even when Mal didn't want to hear it. She didn't know what she would do without any of them.

"You're right E, I should go talk to him. He's probably the only person from Auradon that I can try to talk about the Isle with."

~

Ben was sitting on the chair across from the couch in his room where Mal had been sitting before she got up and started pacing a couple of sentences into their conversation.

"I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable, I just want to know what the isle is really like, and currently I'm focusing on the romantic and physical relationships. You don't have to tell me anything about yourself." Ben told his girlfriend.

"No, I want to. You should know about my life before this. But, I'll only tell you if, when I'm done, you tell me why you _really _want to know this stuff." Ben nodded.

"Fair enough." He said.

"Okay." Mal sat back on the couch letting out a puff of hair. "gender isn't something we consider on the isle when we want to...well you know." she said. "I had a brief fling with Harry Hook." She paused to gauge Bens reaction. She was worried that once he knew the people she was with, he wouldn't want her any more. What if he thought she wasn't good enough for him? What if he thought she had, had too many partners before him, because apparently that mattered in Auradon? But Ben didn't show any difference in his face, which was slightly disconcerting for Mal.

"Okay." He prompted.

"Then I left him for Uma. When that ended, it didn't end well, as you know." Mal continued. "Once Evie and I became friends we started a physical relationship." Mal stopped, she was crying now. even though she was giving him the bare minimum of information, it still hurt to think about the Isle, and of losing Ben.

"Is that still going on? Your relationship with Evie?" Ben asked. Mal wasn't sure what to make of Bens tone, it was one she had never heard before.

"No, it stopped when you and I became a real couple." Mal told her boyfriend still crying. Ben got up from the seat he was on, he walked over and sat next to Mal. Ben put his arms around her, hugging her while she cried.

"You're not mad are you?" She asked.

"How could I be mad? You didn't do anything wrong, you stopped your relationship with Evie when we started dating...for real, I mean." He added.

"Okay. Now you promised you would tell me why you want to know all this stuff." Mal said quickly getting down to business.

"One more question. Has Carlos ever shown any interest in anyone?" Ben asked.

"No, not until Jane. I always figured it was his age. Why? are you planning on leaving me for him?" Mal joked making Ben laugh.

"I'm glad you're feeling better. You became friend with him when he was fourteen right?" 

"Yeah?" Mal wasn't sure where Ben was taking this.

"when did _you_ start doing... _'things'_ with people?"

"I was pretty young. The first time I had sex was when I was fourteen actually. The Isle doesn't exactly have sex education." Mal said.

"Ha, neither does Auradon, we have more abstinence education." Ben gave her a mischievous smile to let his girlfriend know he was Joking. "but anyway, do you think Carlos could have been interested in people but just never showed it?"

"Why would he do that?" Mal deadpanned

"I don't know. But I think he may have a little thing for...I really shouldn't say. The point is I'm trying to help Carlos with his sexuality."

"you're trying to help him embrace his sexuality?" Mal questioned.

"No not like you're thinking. I mean sexuality as in the gender or genders you're attracted to."

"Oh, because of his huge crush on Jay." Mal said matter-of-factly.

"What! You know! who am I kidding, of course you know. Evie probably knows too, am I right?" Mal nodded

"Well, I mean, they're not exactly subtle." She said.

Ben continued. "How has Jay not realized?"

"The only advice I can give you, is to just let it be. The more you meddle, the farther away they get from their feelings."

~

The VK's were messing around in the woods, climbing trees, fencing with sticks, chasing Evie with slugs Jay had found, and torturing Jay with spiders. He would never admit it, but the others knew he was afraid of them, he would always tense up whenever he saw one, and would freak out if he thought one was on him. 

Carlos was chasing Jay for trying to make a bird attack him. "If my dad can command birds maybe I can too. come on bird attack Carlos! Mush! sick em'! go get him bird!" Jay had tried.

"Your dad doesn't command birds, he just yells at a parrot!" Carlos screamed at Jay as he chased him across tree branches. Jay jump off a branch and landed safely on the ground leaving Carlos in the trees.

♪♪♪"I don't need a parachute, baby if I got you! you're gonna catch me!" ♪♪♪ Carlos sang as he jumped from the branch onto Jay.

♪♪♪"Fall! Down, down, down!" ♪♪♪ Evie joined in. Mal laughed at them.

"You guys are insane. You're going to kill yourselves one day, you know that?" That just warrented her a smile from Carlos as he and Jay wrestled to the ground. "Oh my god." Mal said rolling her eyes.

"So? How did your talk with Ben go? You came back so late last night I thought it either went really badly or really well." Evie said wiggling her eyebrow at her friend. 

"It went better than it could have. Turns out he just wanted to help Carlos with his huge crush." Mal bit into one of the strawberries she had been munching on.

"Oh. Well...Actually I'm not sure what to make of that." Evie said before cracking up with Mal.

"Hey! No fun chit chat without us!" Carlos called from over Jays shoulder. He shoved Jay off of him and ran over to the table with them. Jay sauntering over after him.

"So...? Are you guys excited for you new outfits I'm making you?" Evie said. "Carlos, I'm about half way done with yours. I'm on the finishing touches of Mals. Mine is done, of course. And I've only done the accessories for you Jay, but yours shouldn't take too long, They all look and are going to look amazing!" She put emphasis on the last word. 

"Not that I'm not grateful, but, do we really need completely new outfits for a carnival?" Mal asked.

"Of course! This is our first Carnival and I'm not going to have you looking like an ordinary Jo!" Evie protested.

"I'm with Evie, not about the ordinary Jo thing, that's just weird-who have you been hanging around with that makes you say things like that? But anyway, this is an important occasion, so we should look fabulous." Carlos said simply. 

"You're mothers might have taught you two fashion, but my mother taught me practicality. I don't want to be wandering around for hours in a new uncomfortable outfit. Besides, when have I ever looked like an _'ordinary Jo'_ as Evie puts it." Mal said.

"Since when have my clothes been uncomfortable?" Evie said accusatorily, but Mal knew she was actually asking. Evie was taught to be perfect at everything all the time, which gave her a lot of insecurity about everything she's done.

"Okay, you've got me. You're right, you're clothes are always fabulous and comfortable. I just don't want you spending all your time on this, when we don't need more clothes."

"Well you guys don't but, Jay's ruined another three shirts, a pair of pants, two shoes, and pretty much all of his socks." Carlos said.

"Wait, when did this happen!?" Evie gasped.

"Last week." Carlos said disappointment clear in his voice.

"Oh no! not again. I guess I should rephrase my question. _How_ did this happen?" Evie clarified.

"I don't know." Jay shrugged.

~

When Jay had given the position of Captain of the fencing team to Lonnie he had given it to her on a condition, she was always to pair Jay with Carlos, and Lonnie had kept her side of the bargain...until today.

"Alright people! let's team up!" She called her men to attention. Jay was already gravitating toward Carlos when she called a different pair. "Jay you're with me! Carlos you're with Aziz! Get together people! move it!" 

"What the hell!? Why am I not with Carlos!?" Jay walked up to Lonnie, he was mad.

"Relax. He's ready. You can't expect him to learn how to fight if he's only ever training with someone who pulls their punches. You've taught him enough that he's ready to go up against someone who's not going to go easy on him. Besides, Aziz is a good guy, I'm sure you've learned that by now. He's really gentle _and _he'll stop if Carlos is having trouble or gets hurt." Lonnie was right, and Jay knew that, but that just made him more upset with her.

Throughout their whole practice Jay kept looking for Carlos to make sure he was fine, every time he would, Lonnie would smack him with her sword and say "trust him, to be able to take care of himself." Carlos didn't notice until Jay got away from Lonnie and blocked a blow that was about to hit Carlos. Aziz saw the fury in Carlos's eyes and decided he didn't want to be there when Carlos went off at Jay, so he backed away and started to spar with Lonnie while they let the two boys work out their issues.

"Jay!" Carlos yelled. "Let me handle this on my own!" His eyes were wide with anger. 

"He was going to hit you, you wouldn't have been able to block that." Jay said substantially quieter than Carlos.

"I know! You should have let me take the hit! It's just a little piece of metal! you know I can take much worse than that!" At this point everyone had stopped sparring and were now just watching the scene unfold.

"I can handle myself! Sometimes you're a little too protective, you know that!? I'm not helpless and I'd be a lot _less_ helpless if you would let me deal with my own problems!" Carlos seemed a lot bigger when he got mad.

"But you weren't supposed to be with Aziz, Lonnie promised me she would only ever pair us. It's not that I don't trust you, because I do, I trust you with my life, I just don't trust you with yours!" Carlos was taken aback

"What?" His voice and volume dropped so low it actually frightened Jay.

"I knew you asked her to pair us, that's why I asked her before practice today if she would pair me off with someone else so I could gain more experience. I'll never be able to grow if I'm fighting the same person! But it sounds like you don't want me to grow, you don't _trust_ me to grow" Carlos was starting to raise his voice again, which relieved Jay, he knew how to handle a screaming Carlos, it was when he was so mad he was almost silent that Jay was at a loss, he hadn't seen it enough to know what to do since Carlos was difficult to make mad. He could feel Carlos creeping back into silent territory though, and it made the anxiety build in his stomach. Jay hated seeing Carlos upset, but it was even worse when Jay was the one to do it.

"It's not like that Los'! It's just that you don't seem to care if you get hurt! I have to make sure you don't accidentally kill yourself because you just don't care!" Carlos looked at him. He shook his head, and Jay could see tears in his eyes. Oh no. Here comes the silence.

"Los'..."

"No." That was all Carlos said before walking out of the room...

Fuck.

~

Jay was sitting in the locker room inwardly beating himself for pushing Carlos so far. Had he really been so clingy? How could he have thought that what he did as okay? How could he be such an idiot that he tried to control his friends life without his permission? His thoughts were broken up by a couple voices he recognized from fencing, and some from tourney too. 

"Okay, but how can they expect to win when they put that wand sucker as a starter? I mean Jays just gonna be able to knock right through their defense. We've got Isle grit, they've just got a bunch of princes."

"But we're princes." Another voice broke out.

"I know! I mean it like they gay!...Fine! what should I call them next time? Fairy god fathers?" The first voice countered. 

Jay knew that Auradon thought down upon same sex relationships, but he had never actually heard it out loud before. He may have put them in their place when he had first come from the Isle, but now he wanted so desperately to fit in that he just stayed silent. It hurt to hear them talk like that, especially when back on the Isle he was not one to discriminate, he had had many flings with people of all genders. He had heard a few comments from his father in the past about how marrying a woman was the only respectable way for a man to live his life, but it had never been aimed at him and Jay was able to brush them off like he did everything his father said. Jay ran a hand through his hair, something he did when he was stressed, well, it was something he did all the time, but it would get excessive when he was stressed. Evie had told him so many times how bad it was for his hair, and how greasy it would get, but he really didn't care what he looked like at the moment.

~

Carlos skipped the rest of school after his fight with Jay. He hung out in Evie and Mals room with Dude. When the Girls came in they found Carlos asleep on Evies bed, curled around Dude.

"Should we wake him?" Evie asked Mal. Mal shook her head.

"No, I heard from Jane that he skipped his class with her." Mal said.

"You're right, something bad must have happened for _Carlos_ to skip class." Evie agreed. She quietly made her way over to him. Dude lifted his head up, he saw it was Evie and laid it back down deciding to go back to sleep. 

"Dude, can you tell us what happened?" Evie whispered. Dude shook his head, which caused Carlos to stir.

"Dude!" Evie whisper-screamed.

"Sorry." The dog 'whispered' back, however, he was so loud it could hardly be considered a whisper.

"Shush!" Evie told the dog.

"Let's just go get dinner and come back." Mal said.

"Oooh dinner sound amazing!" Dude said enthusiastically. Evie pinched the bridge of her nose. Dude stood up and jumped off the bed ready for dinner causing Carlos to slowly wake.

"Alright, well I'm going to get dinner, I'll bring something back for you two." Mal said walking out with Dude, closing the door behind her.

"Are you alright? What happened hon'?" Evie asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. Carlos sat up and looked at her. Evie was the one person Carlos could always, one hundred percent, rely on. 

"I had a fight with Jay. He doesn't think I can take care of myself. In fact! He doesn't _trust_ me with myself."

"He said that!?" Evie gasped in disbelief. Carlos just nodded in resoponse. "No!" She pulled Carlos in and held him while he cried in her arms. Carlos's eyes were so beautiful when he cried, he was probably the most beautiful crier she had ever met, aside from possibly Mal.

~

Jay went straight to his room after school, he hadn't expected to find Carlos there, but he can't say he wasn't hoping. When he opened the door to an empty room, he wasn't surprised but his heart did sink a little at the sight. Jay spent a few hours laying on his bed contemplating how he would be able to apologize to Carlos. He finally remembered the 3D printer project he had been working on. Jay went over to the printer, turned it on and put in the information he needed to finish his project. The machine whirred to life and started building.

~

That night the room was cold and lonely without Carlos to fill the space with little sleep-filled grunts and whimpers. It was impossible to sleep, Jay tossed and turned, but eventually he had to give up. He got out of bed and decided he would text Aziz, he would probably know what to do, and If he didn't he would text Jordan and get some of her Genie wisdom. Lonnie had been right when she said Aziz was a good guy, his parents and Jays father had been mortal enemies and yet Aziz never looked at Jay as Jafars' son he saw Jay as the new kid, and then as his teammate, and finally, a friend. Maybe Lonnie was right, maybe Jay should be more trusting, it worked for Ben and Aziz. Jay sat down on Carlos's bed with his phone in hand. He was about to text Aziz when he felt the need to at least try and say something to Carlos. 

_'Hey Pup. Just wanted to say I'm really sorry. maybe when you're ready I can apologize correctly, in person. sleep well'_

Jay had texted Mal earlier to find out if Carlos was safe in their room, and had been pleased to hear he was. He sent another text. This time to Aziz.

_'Hope ur awake. need help pls. los's super mad @ me. making him gift. but could use help w/words. text me when u get this.'_

Jay laid back and closed his eyes sighing heavily. His phone chirped with a message from Aziz.

_'hey. Yeah that fight was pretty bad. u ok?'_

Jay read the text and quickly responded.

_'not really. can u help?'_

Another chirp.

_'I don't really know Carlos too well, but I can try. What do you want to tell him?'_

_'IDK. I don't really know why I acted the way I did, and I don't know why I said what I said. I just wish I could take it all back, u know?'_

_'Maybe you should tell Carlos that?' _

Aziz suggested.

_'I'm not sure he'll except that as an answer.'_

_'You won't know until you try. I'm gonna go 2 sleep now. GN Jay'_

Jay hadn't really known what he'd expected from Aziz, it's not like they were even that close, maybe it was because Aziz had been there, or maybe he just didn't want to admit to Mal what he had done quit just yet.

~

Carlos had stayed in Evie and Mals room that night. He cuddled with Evie while Mal contemplated staying with Ben for the night to give them some privacy in case Carlos wanted to talk more. But when she looked over at the boy she could hear him snoring so quietly it was barely audible. Evie and Carlos's legs were intertwined and Evie had her arms wrapped around the younger boys body, her chin resting on the top of Carlos's head. They were definitely asleep, so Mal didn't need to worry any longer. It wasn't soon after that, that she too was falling into a slumber.

~

Carlos woke up to a box with a note attached to it on his chest. He groggily read the note. _'I've been working on this for a while, it's finally done. I have another gift for you when I see you next. J.' _Ugh. It was too early for this. Carlos opened the box to find a small dog tag in the shape of the De Vil emblem, two bones crossed over one another. On one of the bones there was the name Dude, and on the other, De vil. Jay even added little devil horns to the tips of the bones as a reference to the joke he always told Carlos about Dude being a hell beast. The gift made Carlos a little salty, after all, he wanted to be mad at Jay, but the gift was perfect and it frustrated Carlos that he liked it. Carlos put the tag back in the box and shoved it in his drawer. He would put it on Dude eventually, but currently, didn't want Jay to have the satisfaction of knowing his gift was appreciated.

"What's that?" Evie asked him.

"Nothing. Just a gift from Jay." Carlos quickly got up and ready for school. Evie looked at him with sorrowful eyes. She hated when her friends fought, she always felt caught in the middle. All four of them had such specific roles in their lives that when one of them wasn't able to fill their role, everything seemed off balance. Carlos left the room, leaving Evie to her thoughts. Jay and Carlos fought a lot, but it had never gone on this long, or been this severe. Most of their fights were just wrestling over something they both wanted, or Jay picking on Carlos because he didn't know of another way to touch him in that moment.

~

Evie and Mal were eating lunch together. Carlos had ditched to hide in the woods behind the tourney field, and Jay had decided to eat lunch with the tourney team, not wanting to have another public confrontation with either Mal or Carlos, he knew that Evie wouldn't make a scene so he didn't have to worry about her. Jay had decided to find Carlos after school so he could talk to him about the fight, but until then, he didn't want to wreck Carlos's ability to focus in classes, any more than he already had.

Evie was talking about how awkward the carnival was going to be with all of them fighting, when Ben walked up behind the two girls.

"Hey, Mal, can I talk to you for a minute?" He asked quietly. Mal looked over her shoulder to see her boyfriends face. Ben looked calm, but slightly nervous.

"Sure." Mal said. "I'll be right back." She told Evie, getting up and walking away from the table with Ben.

"You and Evie are still really close aren't you?" He started.

"Yeah?" Mal questioned.

"Your relationship with Evie, it wasn't _just_ physical, was it? I mean, there had to have been emotions involved right?" Ben asked.

"Of course, she's my closest friend. But it's not like we were dating Auradon style. We couldn't, we didn't know how. If you're concerned about our friendship, I promise I'm not going to leave you! I chose _you_!" Mal's brow was furrowed, her hands starting to shake slightly.

"No! No, I'm not worried. I would be an awful boyfriend to be jealous of your friends. I guess I was just wondering...and be completely honest with me, if maybe you still had feelings for Evie?" Ben asked. Mal looked even more terrified. Her eyes darting around, probably looking for an exit, Ben figured. Ben took Mal's hand in his to draw her attention back to him and away from panic. Ben caught her gaze, staring deeply into her eyes. "It's okay, just tell me." He said gently.

"Of course I still have feelings for her. I'll never _not_ have feelings for her. She was my first _true_ love, and I don't think I'll ever be completely over her. But I still choose _you_! I love _you_! I _want_ _you_!" Mal cried. Ben lightly placed his hand on the side of Mal's face, leading her into a tender kiss. When they pulled apart, he smiled at her.

"I know. I love you too. Do you think I could have a word with Evie for a moment?" He asked, knowing he was making Mal uncomfortable, but hoping the outcome would be worth a little stress. Mal looked lost, but nodded her head in confusion, anyway.

"Great! I'll be right back." Ben said before trotting back to the table and starting to chat with Evie.

"Evie." He said.

"Is everything okay Ben?" She asked him.

"Everything's perfect, I just need to know how you feel about Mal?" Evie looked almost as confused as Mal had. "Let me clarify, are you still in love with Mal?" He asked. Evie looked shocked, but answered him truthfully all the same.

"Of course. I'll always be in love with her, she's my rock, well, aside from Carlos." Evie said. For the first time in his conversations Ben looked awkward, possibly, unsure of himself. He waved Mal back over to the table, her face now showing extreme concern.

"I really didn't mean to scare you guys, but I needed to know how you two felt about each other before I went through with asking my _real_ question. Mal. Evie." He looked from one girl to the other. Mal and Evie nodded in unison. "If you two would like, I would be okay if you wanted to continue your romantic relationship with one another, while Mal and I continue ours." Ben said. 

"Wait! What!?" Mal said. 

"Well, like you said, you chose me. I _trust_ that you love me enough that you can love Evie and I simultaneously, without needing to chose one over the other. I love you, and I just want you to be happy, and if this is the best way to do it, I'm perfectly fine with that." Ben said.

"I'm happy with _you_. You're enough Ben." Mal reassured.

"I know that. It's not that I don't think you're happy, it's that I know you're happy, which makes me comfortable to share you with Evie...but no one else, just Evie." Ben clarified. Evie looked shell shocked through the entire conversation.

"Well, we'll have to think on it and talk about this more. Figure out the logistics, and ground rules. Make sure we're all on the same page." Mal said, knowing Evie was not in the right place to make this decision at the moment. Ben gave a huge smile.

"Great! Uh, Just come to me whenever you both are ready to go over this stuff! I should, um, go back to lunch with Fairy Godmother, we're having a discussion about school finances." Ben stumbled through his words while backing up and bumping into tables and chairs.

~

Jay approached Mal before their class together. "I need to talk to you." He said.

"Yeah you do." Mal had her arms crossed, attitude evident in her voice.

"I need your help with Carlos. I don't know how to apologize, or even when the right time to, is. If I apologize when he's not ready, it's going to just annoy him and push him away farther, he thinks I'm too clingy." Jay said.

"Well you are, but I'm not sure he feels that way. I think he just he thinks you're too overbearing." Mal uncrossed her arms and looked around to see if there was anyone within earshot. "I think he'll be ready for an apology later tonight." She told her best and oldest friend.

"Thanks, Mal. I have to tell you about a gift I want to give him..."

~

March 13th: 8 years prior.

Jay had been left in charge of manning the shop while Jafar was off somewhere visiting a 'Friend' as Jafar had put it. Jay was ten. Harriet hook was wandering the shop with the two Gaston twins following her. They were looking at things, picking some things up then putting them back down. One of the Gaston twins knocked into a small tower of metal trinkets, Jay thought they had probably been rusty old tools for building and fixing things, he thought that some of the items might have been Allen Wrenches. As the Gaston twin fumbled with the falling tower, jay walked over to the older boy and tried to steady the falling items.

"It's okay, I got it." He tried to make the Gaston stop trying to help. While Jay was fixing the tower, the other Gaston bumped into his brother, who bumped into Jay, who ended up falling against Harriet who steadied him, keeping him from falling to the floor. She helped him up by the hands and the three idiots quickly left the shop. Jay checked himself, making sure everything was still in place and he hadn't been hurt, he check the shelves to make sure they hadn't stolen something. Nothing from the store was missing, however, Jay noticed his wrist lacked a familiar tickling that was caused by a thin gold bracelet that he had on him at all times... Fuck! He had to get it back.

Jay quickly closed up shop and ran out to find the thieves. He ran through alleyways, checked roofs, and even looked in windows, but it wasn't until he found his way to the market that he caught glimpse of his targets. They were strolling through the street like they owned the place. Cocky bastards, Jay thought. He started into a sprint to get at Harriet, who he knew was the one that had stolen the bracelet when she was helping him up. The whole thing had been staged, his father would be so disappointed in him. The three thieves noticed Jay and took off running in all directions throwing things behind them to slow Jay down. Somewhere in the chaos Jay had lost Harriet. He couldn't believe he let her take the only item he had that mattered to him, the only possession he held dear. If Jafar found out about Jays misstep, he would most likely smother Jay in his sleep and throw him in the lake to be eaten by crocodiles never to be seen again. The bracelet had been Jays mothers, the only possession of hers that Jay had been able to keep. She had given it to him before she died. Jafar had Burnt most of her possessions to forget, but Jay knew he regretted it, and would never forgive Jay if he lost the last piece of her. 

Jay was about to count his losses and resign himself to returning home to his death, but he caught sight of a familiar head of hair, sitting on the ground, which was uncharacteristic for the person in question. Jay got closer to the boy he had recognized as Carlos De Vil. De Vil was eight, but was in most of Jays classes, all the same, because the kid was supposed to be like a child genius or something. The kid was holding something shiny. Jay walked closer, making the boy aware of his presence. Carlos snapped his head up and looked at Jay, fear welling in his eyes. 

"What are you doing down there?" Jay asked.

"Nothing, it's none of your business!" He yelled.

Jay saw his mothers bracelet quickly being shoved into a pocket. He lunged forward grabbing Carlos's wrist and pulled the bracelet out of his pocket. 

"That's mine!" Jay said, fists curling up getting ready to punch the younger boy. Carlos looked terrified.

"Where did you get this!" Jay said holding up the bracelet so Carlos could see it clearly. Carlos curled into a ball, flinching, he had already started crying. Weak, Jay thought, a word he would never describe Carlos as now. Jay hadn't even touched the kid yet, and he had already given up. Carlos held his arms in front of his face to protect his head.

"Harriet Hook dropped it when I tripped her!" Carlos screamed getting ready for the beating he was about to endure. "You can just take it! Mom says gold isn't my color anyway! I don't want it! just take it!" He said hoping that would spare him, and luckily, it did. Jay didn't have time to beat the black two toned, malnourished kid. So he just ran back to the shop, bracelet in hand. He needed to get back before Jafar got home and saw that Jay had closed the shop early, which would make Jay have to explain why, and Jay really, really, didn't want to die quite just yet. He was out of luck however, Jafar had gotten home before Jay. The beating he received that night was one he was not likely to ever forget.

~

Present day.

Jane and Lonnie were out looking for Carlos after school to return the phone he had left with Jane at lunch. They made their way through the halls and were passing the kitchens when they heard Audrey and Chad having an argument, or, at least it _sounded_ like an argument from the loud and passionate exclaims. "What are they arguing about?" Lonnie asked. "Can you hear?"

"I don't know if we should be trying to listen in? I mean, it's a privet conversation, you wouldn't like it if someone was listening to you fight?" Jane said, but Lonnie couldn't tell if what she was saying was a statement, or a question. She shrugged Jane's comments off.

"I Just can't believe we have a girl for a captain!" Chad said.

"I know right!? She should be doing things like cheerleading and sewing, like the rest of us, the normal people, but no, instead she has to go gallivanting around trying to be a boy! Just because your mother did it, doesn't make it cool! My mother took a hundred year nap, and I don't think _that's_ cool." Audrey complained. Were they talking about Lonnie?

Lonnie had never thought she was a boy, she never wanted to be. But she also didn't like the stereotypical roles she was forced into as a woman. Yes, she preferred shorts to skirts, and she would rather kick ass at tourney or fencing than stand on the sidelines cheering the men on. Lonnie knew that there was nothing wrong with who she was and what she liked to do, which was why she never hid her many talents or interests, and she was always the first to shout her objections and opinions. She didn't think that made her _weird_ or _unnatural,_ but she knew that some people saw her that way. 

"It's no surprise she's been hanging around those villain kids. Weirdo's stick together after all." Audrey continued.

"Come one Lonnie. Let's go!" Jane pleaded. "Nothing good can come out of this!" But Lonnie shushed her.

"I'm just surprised Ben has let this go on for so long, all the rule bending, breaking, and even changing! Whenever one of his precious VK's does something wrong, he changes the rules so they don't get in trouble for it! It's ridiculous!" Chad shouted. 

"Maybe that's because those rules shouldn't have even been in place from the beginning." Lonnie grumbled. Finally, Jane had had enough. She grabbed Lonnie's arm and pulled her away.

"Come on! We need to give Carlos his phone back." Jane said dragging Lonnie down the rest of the hallway. 

~

Jay caught up with Carlos, who looked a little disgruntled to see him. Jay saw that Carlos had turned around and was starting to walk away. "Carlos! Wait!" He called out. Carlos stopped in his tracks, he spun around on his heel to meet Jay's gaze.

"What?" He sounded slightly annoyed.

"I promised you an apology, and a present." Jay said. Carlos sighed and looked at the ground, not wanting to make eye contact with Jay when he apologized, it was hard enough just standing still and not bolting for the first exit.

"Kay." Carlos prodded trying to get it over with as fast as possible. He knew if Jay could keep him there long enough he would give in to the pressure and forgive the older boy simply because it was the easiest option. 

"I really messed up." Jay started. "I wanted to protect you, I was so afraid of losing you that I tried to keep you from experiencing any kind of hurt. Somewhere in my fear, I lost sight of how truly strong you are. I mean, you're amazing Los'! I don't know anyone braver than you!" Jay was stumbling his way through the speech he had written down on a napkin in class. "I get that what I see as reckless behavior, is actually you being a smart strategist that understands that when in battle, winning the battle is more important than leaving scratchless. I know that you can handle yourself in most situations, I guess I just don't want you to have to." Jay fiddled with his gloves. "I talked to Mal, she helped me write this, and she was also the one who helped me realize half of this shit." He stood awkwardly for a moment before fumbling with the bracelet on his wrist. "I don't know if you remember this, but-" Carlos cut him off.

"I remember." Jay looked a little surprised that Carlos _actually had_ remembered the bracelet.

"It was my mothers, it's the last thing we have of her." Jay explained. "I broke your heart-" Carlos interrupted him.

"Don't give yourself so much credit, I wouldn't go that far." He said.

"Let me finish. I broke your heart, so now you get to break mine." He placed the bracelet delicately in Carlos's hand. "You can break it, you can sell it, you can give it away, or even _throw_ it away. I don't care, it's yours now." Jay said, trying not to show how much this actually hurt him, but he knew Carlos could see right through his facade. Carlos took the bracelet but didn't say a word.

"I've gotta go to practice, I hope I'll see you there, but If you're still not ready, I'll make up an excuse for you with coach." Jay said. He took off into a jog.

~

Jay got back to his room, he was about to open his laptop when he saw his, well, Carlos's bracelet now, on the table in the center of their room. Carlos hadn't shown up for practice so Jay was surprised to hear Carlos taking a shower in their room. He had figured Carlos was going to stay with Evie and Mal again, but he was happily wrong. 

When Carlos got out of the shower and came back into the room Jay immediately said "You didn't get rid of the bracelet?" He wasn't sure if it was a statement or question.

"Of course not. It's your mothers, it's too important. I don't _want_ to hurt you, Jay. Besides, gold isn't my color." Carlos said. He really _did_ remember. 

"Soooo, you're not mad at me?" Jay asked. 

"Oh, I'm still mad at you. But I'm willing to try this again." He pointed between him and Jay. Maybe Carlos was too forgiving, but he missed his roommate, he missed his friend. "I'm gonna need to lay down some ground rules though." He said.

"Okay, sounds fair enough." Jay said. Carlos gave a quick nod and continued.

"First: if I need help, I'll ask. Second: No being jealous of my friends, I can have friends that aren't you. Third, and final: I need you to trust me, and I don't mean believe whatever I say, no, I mean _really_ trust me, Jay. Trust me to know what _I _need and am capable of."

"You're completely right. I should've been doing that the whole time." Jay told Carlos. "But what if you're not in a situation where you can verbally ask for help?" Jay asked.

"I guess we could come up with a subtle symbol that means I need help. Maybe if I put my arm to my chest and scratch my wrist with my forefinger you could come over and get me out of whatever the situation is?" Carlos suggested. Jay nodded. "Same goes for me, believe it or not, but I too, sometimes need rescuing." Jay said jokingly, but the statement behind his words were completely genuine. 

~

The entire group ate dinner together that night. Mal was squeezed between Evie and Ben. Next to Evie sat Doug who was across from Lonnie who sat next to Jay whom was trapping Carlos between him and Jane. "I'm really glad you two are back together. I mean you're like my couple goals. And you're so brave being openly together in Auradon, I mean, I know people aren't exactly open to the idea of two men being together here." Doug told Carlos and Jay. Carlos turned red and Jay looked flustered.

"We're not...you don't think...We're not a couple! Do People think we're a couple!?" Jay stumbled. Carlos was getting increasingly more red. 

"Oh! I just assumed with the way you guys act around each other." Doug said. "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I just thought...well, you know what I thought." 

Carlos and Jay didn't look at each other for the rest of the meal. 

"well that turned awkward real fast." Lonnie said.

"Tell me about it." Mal retorted.

~

"Go on! try it on, M." Evie encouraged. She had finished Mal's carnival outfit and was trying to see if everything fit. Mal undressed and put her new clothes on. Evie couldn't help but stair at her roommate as she changed. "M?" 

"Yeah, E?" Mal was focused on the laces of her boots.

"Have you thought about what Ben suggested?" Mal stopped to look at Evie.

"Yeah. Have you?" Mal asked.

"I think we should try it." Evie said.

"Okay. Let's tell Ben when we're done with this." Mal said.

~

During Tourney it was hard not to try and butt-in to Carlos's conversation with coach when he was getting on Carlos case for missing so many practices. But, luckily Jay didn't have to help, because Ben stepped in and talked to the coach about the absences.

"Coach, Fairy Godmother and I thought it would be best for Carlos's curriculum if he skipped practice those days and just practiced with me at night, instead." Ben lied. Why would he do that? Why would he lie for Carlos? "But don't worry, he shouldn't have to miss any more practices from here on out." Ben said, finishing the conversation. 

"Uh, thanks?" Carlos questioned Ben.

"Don't mention it, I just don't like the bad rep you VK's are still getting. But this was a one-time thing, I'm not going to lie for you again." Ben warned. Carlos nodded, but was then called to the field. Ben wouldn't call Carlos a brother, not quite a friend either, he saw Carlos as someone he was responsible for but differently than everyone else in Auradon. He was very aware that Carlos was younger than him, and hadn't quite figured out yet that Carlos was just as mature as Ben himself. He wanted to consider Carlos a friend, because he cared about him, he really did, but something was different about their relationship that they weren't quite friends, and they definitely weren't more, but they still cared for one another. Perhaps the closest term he would come to, to describe their relationship, was his long-time girlfriends little brother. 

Carlos was holding his own in the game. It surprised and impressed Jay all at the same time. Jay never really noticed how much Carlos had grown at this game, when he was still constantly trying to help Carlos across the field unscathed.

Carlos didn't need help from Jay until after Practice was done. He was talking to Chad, Aziz, and one other prince.

"We should just put Carlos in the front. You don't mind being bate do you?" Chad asked pointing at Carlos, he wasn't really asking though. "When he's getting beaten up by all the good players, we sneak past all those fairy princes and destroy their defenses."

"Dude, that kind of language isn't cool man." Aziz told Chad.

"What?" Chad asked sounding astonishingly like Audrey in that moment.

"You can't say fairy prince as a derogatory word to mean gay. You don't know that they're gay... and also, so what if they are? That doesn't affect how well they play the game! And using Carlos as bait like that is just bad being a bad teammate _and_ a bad person." Aziz told Chad off. Chad looked completely taken aback, so his friend chimed in.

"It's obvious that they're gay, isn't it though? I mean, they play like girls! And the way they talk! They all sound like walked straight out of Coachella. I'm pretty sure I saw one of them looking at me too." 

Carlos gave the signal to Jay, but it took a moment for Jay to get to him.

"That's just how they talk in Neverland, everyone sounds like that, it doesn't mean they're all gay. And the fact that you think girls can't play tourney well, that's just sexist." Aziz could tell Carlos was uncomfortable so he had to let him know that he didn't feel the way Chad and his bigot crony did about women and gay men.

"What's going on here guys?" Jay asked accusatorily, he put a hand on Aziz's shoulder in silent thanks before making his way to Carlos and draping an arm around his shoulders.

"Aziz is just being sensitive." Chad told Jay. "Why are you so concerned with the pixies anyway? Are you one?" Chad asked Aziz.

"I could ask you the same question, _Chad_." Aziz retorted. "And again with the derogatory nick-names. I think you might be suppressing some internalized feelings." Chad sputtered at that.

"No! I don't even know what that means!" He said.

"Of course you don't." Aziz told him.

"I really hope you don't end up sad and alone because you push everyone away with all your close-minded mentalities." Carlos said before Jay led him away from the argument. 

"Chad's an asshole. Are you okay?" Jay asked.

"Yeah, thanks for saving me."

"Why didn't you say anything to him, you know, before your totally bad-ass exit line?" Jay asked, chuckling a little at the memory. Something he said made Carlos's attitude change drastically. Carlos looked down at his feet as they walked past the bleachers.

"Can we talk in our room?" Carlos asked.

"Of course. Everything okay, pup?"

"I don't know yet."

~

The second the two boys got in their room, Jay closed the door and looked at Carlos expectantly. 

"So? What's up?" Jay encouraged. Carlos sat on his bed and Jay sat on his so they could look directly at each other. There was a long moment of silence from Carlos before he finally spoke.

"This wouldn't have mattered on the Isle, so I wouldn't have needed to do this, but since it's so rare here, I guess I have to make it a big deal? I'm gay. I don't like girls, I never have. I thought I liked Jane, but she helped me realize I didn't really like her or any girl the way that she wanted or deserves to be liked." Jay smiled at Carlos.

"I know." Carlos shot him a very confused and slightly angry look.

"You knew!? Why didn't you tell me!?" Jay gave a soft laugh.

"C, you had a huge crush on Diego when we were little. Do you not remember that?" Jay said. Carlos looked at Jay for a moment, a quizzical look on his face.

"Jay, I think you're mistaken. Diego's my cousin. Diego De Vil? Ring any bells?" 

"Oh, yeah, I completely missed that." Jay looked dumbfounded. "lucky guess then?"

"You didn't just guess that I was gay, Jay." Carlos said sarcastically.

"Okay, maybe I just picked up on subtle hints then." Jay guessed, he really hadn't known how he knew Carlos was gay, but he just did, it was probably his intuition. "Well, I'm not exactly a straight shooter either." Jay said, hoping his honesty was making Carlos more comfortable.

"I know." This time it was Carlos's turn to explain. Jay looked at him, a question written on his face. "you weren't exactly _subtle_ with all your exploits on the Isle." Sometimes Jay forgot that Carlos knew him for a long time before they had become friends. 

~

Jay could tell that Chad was avoiding him the day after his and Aziz's bickering. Jay had always had a soft spot for Carlos, that was something that was obvious to anyone who met the two. It was no different to his reputation on the Isle, Jay would protect whatever he thought of as his, even if he didn't care about it. So when Chad had suggested Carlos up for bait, he was sure Jay would find out and come after him.

~

December 25th: 3 years prior.

Mal and Jay had been running across the Isle spreading some Christmas fear. They were stealing, making noise, breaking peoples things and being all-around _bad_ people. They found themselves outside Jafar's junk shop where Jay and his father lived. "Wanna stop in and torture Iago?" Mal asked Jay with a mischievous look in her eyes. A viscous smile crept upon Jay's face, and they entered the shop. Jay spotted the familiar white and black head of hair he had learned to associate with the young De Vil boy. Mal and Jay decided to ignore the other boy in the shop with them and they went over to the parrot in his cage.

"Polly want a cracker?" Mal teased.

"Thief! Thief!" The parrot screeched. 

"What?" Jay asked. He soon noticed Carlos taking off in a sprint. "Aw fuck!" Jay exclaimed as he sped after the boy, mal following, walking at a leisurely pace.

Jay chased Carlos through the market, past Hell Hall, finally catching up to him in an alley between two metal sheds someone called home. Jay tackled Carlos to the ground turning him onto his back and trapping both arms under one hand so he could search the inside of Carlos's coat for the stolen goods. Jay soon felt a lump in the lining of De Vil's jacket. He pulled out an expired can of green beans. Jay looked at Carlos quizzically. Then continued his search to find a fork, a rolled up scarf, half a loaf of moldy bread, and a pencil. Jay looked at the substantially smaller boy under him, he could see a very clear outline of ribs where his shirt had rode up during their tussle, the kid was clearly malnourished. 'Fuck'. Jay thought. 

"Why the fork?" Jay asked nodding to the fork on the ground.

"Protection?" Carlos answered so quietly Jay almost didn't hear him.

"Not a knife?"

"It looks inconspicuous." Jay chuckled a little at that.

"The Scarf?"

"Pillow." Carlos answered.

"Beans, and bread?"

"We're out of food, there isn't another shipment for two days." Jay knew that. Jafar had made him run to the last fleet of barges to grab as much food as he possibly could so that Jafar could hoard it and sell it at an unreasonable price when everyone else ran out.

"The pencil." It sounded like a statement, but Carlos knew it was another question.

"School and...science experiments." Carlos was trying very hard to look anywhere but Jays face. Jay was still on top of him and it was getting a little uncomfortable. Jay thought to himself for a moment. He stood up, and picked all the stolen goods off the ground. Jay turned to walk away but didn't move forward just yet. He dropped the scarf, bread, and beans, then walked off. 

Mal met Jay at the entrance to the Alley. "Why'd you let him get away with that shit?" She asked. Jay shrugged.

"The food was too bad, nobody would want it. It'll probably kill him anyways." Jay said.

"Evil." Mal commented. 

When Jay re-entered the junk shop Jafar immediately asked "What did he get?"

"Nothing important, just a fork and pencil." Jay said, putting the items back on the shelves. 

When things settled down that night and Cruella had eaten and Carlos had gotten her leftover's, after all the chores were done, he made his way into his tree house to work on a machine he was trying to fix. When he reached the top of the stairs, the other half of the bread loaf he had stolen was waiting for him on the desk.

~

Jay and Carlos were laying on Jays bed with dude snuggled between them snoring softly in intervals. "Hey Los'?" Jay asked, brow furrowed. 

"Mhm?" Carlos hummed.

"You know I've never thought of you as my property right? You, Mal, and Evie, you're all under my protection, but I've never felt like I own any of you." Jay said.

"I know. Where is this coming from?" Carlos asked.

"I was just thinking about how back on the Isle, people wouldn't mess with my things, cause they knew I took my possessions seriously. But they also knew not to mess with my people, because...well, you know what would happen. I guess I was just worried that you might think I thought of you as my property instead of as your own person." Jay seemed genuinely concerned. Carlos turned onto his side to look at Jay. 

"I've never thought that... but, thanks for saying it anyway." Carlos said. Jay turned on his side and propped himself up on his elbows to meet Carlos's gaze. They stayed there staring in each other's eyes for what felt like an eternity. Carlos licked his lips, causing Jay to glance down, to watch Carlos's tongue creep back inside his mouth. Jay thought about how it would feel to follow the tongues path with his own. Carlos glanced down at Jays lips for a second before snapping his eyes back up to meet Jays. Jays breath hitched. Carlos's face felt hot, and he could feel his heart beat in his throat. Their faces started gradually gravitating towards one another. Jay stopped for a moment to break the silence.

"Can I...?" He asked, eyes not leaving Carlos's mouth. Carlos nodded and brought his hand up to cup Jays jaw. Their lips met. It was gentle and sweet. Carlos moved his hand to rest on the back of Jays head to deepen the kiss slightly.

"Kiss!" Dude shouted. "Yeah! Get it De Vil!" The enthusiastic cheers from the dog made Jay and Carlos smile and laugh against each other's lips. Carlos blushed from the audience that had formerly been asleep.

"You _really_ like to chime in at the most inopportune moments, don't you dude?" Carlos Joked. "Wait! That reminds me!" Carlos rolled off Jays bed and ran over to his own bed to where his nightstand stood. Carlos opened the drawer and pulled the dog tag, Jay had made Dude, out and jumped back over to Jays bed. Jay watched the excitement on Carlos's face as he put Jays present on the dogs collar. something swelled inside Jays stomach and he couldn't help himself from grabbing Carlos and pulling the smaller boy on top of him. Carlos laughed.

"What are you doing!?" He asked through laughter. Jay just smiled and answered him with another kiss.

"Well! that's my cue to leave!" Dude said as he jumped off the bed and pushed the door slightly open with his nose.

~

Doug, Evie, Carlos, Mal, Jay, Ben, Lonnie, and Jane all stood in line to get into the carnival. 

" By the way, did I mention how good all of you look?" Ben asked, complimenting Evie's new outfits. 

"Aw! Thank you! I'll have to make you one to match for next year." She said. 

They made their way through the line and into the carnival. In the center of the road was a giant stone with a sword in it. The monument had a plaque that told the story of Arthur and Excalibur.

The group saw Aziz and Jordan. Aziz walked over for a second. "We're gonna go on the Screeching Raven! If we die Jay gets Jordan's lamp, and Ben gets to tell my parents!" He said loudly to be heard over the bustle of people and music. 

"Wow! That's so nice of you!" Ben said sarcastically.

"Ben!..." Mal slapped his arm playfully. "You just learned how to use sarcasm!"

"I'm so proud." Evie joked.

Aziz ran off to ride his ride with Jordan.

"What do you guys want to do first!?" Ben asked.

"Food!" Jay said enthusiastically. 

"Great! let's get food!" Lonnie said, she lead the way toward the food stands.

"What's that!?" Jay asked looking at a giant turkey leg. "I'm gonna get it!" He announced.

"I'm gonna look for a vegetarian option with Evie." Carlos told Jay. Jay leaned close to talk in Carlos's ear.

"Okay. Have fun. Meet back up at the tables?" He asked, giving Carlos's hand a tight squeeze. Carlos nodded and the group split up to get their different foods.

They all got their separate foods and met back up under a tarp with picnic benches under it. Ben's attention got grabbed by a young blonde boy who was walking past.

"Hey! Artie!" Ben grabbed the kids attention. He waved Artie over.

"I want you to meet my girlfriend, Mal." He said. Mal waved at the kid.

"And this is Mal's girlfriend Evie." Artie waved at the two girls.

"Hi. It's nice to meet all of you." He said. He looked around, probably searching for friends somewhere in the crowds. 

"Alright! go on! go back to the fair! Thanks for stopping to say hi." Ben said shooing the kid off to continue his fun.

"King Arthur's son?" Mal asked, when Bens attention was back on the group.

"Yeah. He's a good kid, he helped us when Camelot was being ravaged Madam Mim in dragon form."

"Oh yeah! I remember Carlos telling me about that!" Jane exclaimed.

"Okay, someone has some explaining to do! I want to hear _all_ about this right now!" Lonnie demanded.

"How about I fill you in later? But right now we have a magic show to get to!" Doug exclaimed as he looked down at his watch. The group packed up their food and made their way to the wizards stage. 

Carlos sat next to Jay who slung his arm around the younger boys shoulders allowing Carlos to rest his head on Jays chest.

An old man with a long beard and cane walked on stage. He looked as if he was about to speak, but instead of words, he sneezed. A puff of smoke appeared, and left where the man had been, was an owl, flying in mid air. The owl quickly turned back into a man.

"That's it! That's all you get! I am a _real_, _respectable_ wizard! Not some party magician!" The man said, and he walked off stage.

Ben, Doug, Lonnie, and Jane all laughed.

"Merlin does this every year, it's sort of become a tradition." Ben explained to the four VK's who looked very confused. 

The group watched a couple of shows after that, one of which was flaming-sword fighting, to which Mal's reaction was "No, Jay and Lonnie. You're not trying that during fencing."

When the shows were over they all started to make their way toward the rides and games. The lights from the rides reflected in Evie's eyes, illuminating her face in the night. Mal subtly grabbed Evie's hand as she walked up next to her. They stared up at a Ferris wheel that flashed bright colors. "Wow." Evie breathed. 

"Yeah." Mal answered.

"You guys can ride it if you want. I got us all free ride bracelets so all you have to do is stand in line and show your band to the person that lets you on." Ben told the two girls.

"Maybe later." Evie said. "I think the boys want to play games first."

They found the rest of the group. Jay was playing a dart game, he was trying to win Carlos a dog plush. Lonnie was fishing for rubber crocodiles while Jane cheered her on.

The mood quickly shifted when the VK's stumbled upon theme based games, the theme being villains. Pin the tail on Cruella; a game where you shoot water at Jafar until Iago, whom is placed on his shoulder explodes into a puff of feathers; a game that had you throw an apple at a magic mirror, and if the apple hit, it would dunk a woman dressed as the Evil Queen into a cauldron filled with green liquid and apples; Maleficent's game was the worst, the object of the game was to hit a cardboard cutout of Maleficent with a spear that looked like Fairy Godmothers wand, if you hit maleficent hard enough to knock her over, a small purple lizard would appear where Maleficent had been. The VK's faces immediately fell when they saw the games. Ben stopped in his tracks when he saw their reactions, he followed their gaze to the games. 

"Oh. Guys, I am _so_ sorry. That's really insensitive. I'm going to go have a talk with the organizers right now to have these taken down." Ben told them. He walked off to find someone to complain to.

"Come on guys! Let's get out of here!" Lonnie said tugging Mal's hand lightly to get her attention to lead the group out of that section. Lonnie took them back to the rides. "I know just what you guys need!" She proclaimed. Lonnie showed them a rollercoaster that went into a cave through a giant lion-head's mouth. Jay knew that cave anywhere, even if it was just a recreation. He had been in that cave in the catacombs under Auradon and the Isle. "It's called the Ride of Wonders!" Lonnie announced. "I figured it's mild enough for Evie, Doug, Carlos, and Jane but wild enough for me, Mal, and Jay. And when we're done, Mal, Jay, and I can go on the Purple Dragon." Lonnie stated, pointing at another rollercoaster that had people hanging from chairs that were suspended from the tracks.

They went on the Ride of Wonders. The cars looked like mining carts, and could fit two people in each. Evie and Carlos sat together, Mal and Jay took another, Jane and Doug had the last cart, and Lonnie took the first cart. The ride started up and started to accelerate. Going through the mouth of the giant lion head, the track dropped sending the kids twisting and turning all throughout the cave filled with fake gold and jewels. Evie, Lonnie, Jay, and Mal all screamed, Evie's, the only one brought by fear. Doug had gone on this ride before, he enjoyed it, but he wasn't very vocal about it. Jane had a death grip on Doug's arm, she was frozen from fear, she had been to the carnival every year since she was a child, however she had never gotten the courage to go on any of the larger rides. Carlos was also silent from fear, he was holding Evie's hand as she screamed beside him, her eyes squeezed shut. Another drop dipped them into a spot covered in plastic lava and melted gold, there was even lava dripping from the ceiling above their heads. The ride finally slowed to a stop once they were back outside in the carnival once more. 

"I am _never_ doing that again." Evie said as they got out of the carts. Her hair was messy from being whipped back and forth.

"Me neither." Carlos said. "Let's go get you cleaned up." He told Evie dragging her off to the bathrooms.

"That was amazing!" Mal said once Evie and Carlos had disappeared.

"Oh yeah!" Jay agreed, and Lonnie nodded in response.

"It was okay." Jane said a little warily.

"Wanna do it again before the weaklings get back?" Mal asked Jay and Lonnie.

"Yeah!" Jay said.

"Sure, why not." Lonnie answered.

"I think Jane and I are gonna sit this one out." Doug said.

"Okay, don't have too much fun without us." Mal teased.

"We're going to sit at the table over there." Doug pointed at a picnic table.

Carlos and Evie went into the girls bathroom for the mirror. Carlos helped Evie tame the loose hairs that flew free and crazy around her head. He helped her pin her hair up in the back to keep it in place for any more, _less_ insane, rides. Carlos had a lot of experience fixing untamed hair. He got weird looks and even a few glares from the women in the bathroom, but he did his best to ignore them, reminding himself that this was for Evie. He knew that if Evie thought she didn't look perfect in every single way, her anxiety would become uncontrollable. 

Ben found his group again once he had finished talking to the Carnival organizer, about the insensitive games they had put up that year. 

"Hey." He said, taking his place next to Mal.

"Hey." Mal said back. 

"Where's Evie and Carlos?" Ben looked around for them.

"Fixing Evie's hair in the bathroom." 

"Oh. Should we wait?" Ben asked.

"I will, so I don't see why you guys would have to. You should go have fun." Jane told the group. 

Evie heard a few girls whispering mean things about her and Carlos, mainly about Carlos being in the women's restroom. 

"I thought this was the _girls _bathroom?" One of the ladies said. 

Evie wasn't sure if Carlos could hear them too, she figured he had and was just ignoring them. So she tucked the last strand of hair into her bun as quickly as she could, before putting a hand on her friends back to gently push him out and away from the harsh words being whispered in, not-so-subtle, secrecy. "Come on, let's get out of here." She said as she lead him through the doors. "We're gonna take a little detour before we head back to the group." Evie said with a wicked grin on her face. She took Carlos the opposite way they had come. 

"I guess Jay and I will just have to ride the Purple Dragon then." Mal told the group, Jay nodded enthusiastically. Lonnie had decided to get another snack.

'It's hard living in such an amazingly toned, muscular body.' She had told them before she was gone.

"I'll wait here with Jane." Ben said, and Doug nodded in agreement. 

"Your loss!" Mal called over her shoulder, already heading toward the ride.

Once Mal and Jay were gone Ben told Doug and Jane that he was going to sneak off and win Mal a gift to surprise her with when she got back.

Evie and Carlos arrived in the middle of a petting zoo. "Here we are." She told him, waving her arms in front of her to present the animals. She immediately saw his face light up and knew she had made the right choice. "Well? What are you standing around here for? Go pet them!" She shooed at him.

"You willingly came into a pen filled with stinky, dirty animals, just for me?" Carlos asked, but it wasn't really a question, he knew she had. He hugged her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. Evie hugged him back, her arms around his waist. "Thank you." 

"Well? Go pet them." Evie shooed him off once more. She watched as Carlos met the animals. He really did have a way with them, animals just seemed to like him. Carlos was naturally gifted at interacting with animals as individuals and not just species. A pig took a particular liking to Carlos and tried to follow them out when they left. 

"You just made my night E. You always know exactly what I need." He told her as they walked back. 

"Well, you helped me, so of course I had to return the favor." Evie said, holding his hand and wildly swinging it back and forth as they walked.

"Hi guys! Did you have any trouble with your hair?" Jane asked. "Cause I'm pretty sure Mal has a spell for that." 

"No, she's not doing magic remember." Doug answered Jane.

"Oh. Yeah. I forgot." Jane replied.

"We shouldn't be having any more problems with my hair tonight." Evie said, delicately touching her head.

"Oh hey guys!" Ben walked up.

"Perfect timing. Mal's coming back." Jane informed Ben, pointing at Mal and Jay who were making their way back to the group.

"Oh honey, let me fix your hair." Evie said to Mal once she was close enough for Evie to reach out and try to grab Mal's hair. Mal shooed Evies hand away, letting her hair go wherever it wanted.

Ben stepped into Mal's line of sight. He had a plush purple dragon with green eyes in his hands. Ben held the toy out for his girlfriend with a huge smile on his face.

"Is that for me?" Mal asked.

"Yeah, I won it over there at Ariel's singing booth." Ben gestured towards the games.

"Aww, Ben! It's perfect!" Mal told him, holding it out in front of her to look at it..

"Do you want to go on the Farris Wheel?" Ben asked Mal and Evie.

"Sure." Evie said.

"Yeah, why not." Mal agreed. Jay leaned down next to Carlos to talk in his ear.

"Maybe we should go too?" He asked.

"Yeah. Okay." Carlos nodded, a wide smile creeping up his face. He had never been on any rides before that night, but this one looked a lot tamer than the other ride they had gone on that night, and Carlos was actually excited for it. Jane Lonnie and Doug decided they'd go together too.

Mal sat in the middle, Evie on her right, Ben on her left. She held both of their hands while keeping her dragon between her legs. The ride shifted to let Jay and Carlos on next. Jay slung his arm around Carlos's shoulders, pulling him close, and Carlos rested his head on Jays shoulder. The ride shifted again to allow Jane, Lonnie, and Doug on. The ride shifted a few more times before going around, up and down, looking over the city. 

"Wow. This is amazing." Evie breathed. 

"Yeah, it sure is." Ben said. Evie glanced at Mal, who had no words, the night and all its lights reflecting in her eyes. Evie squeezed Mal's hand a little tighter, getting a squeeze back, in return.

"The world looks so small from here." Carlos said. "It kind of makes all our problems seem irrelevant in the grand scheme of things." 

"Come here." Jay said ruffling Carlos's hair and chuckling a little. "still seem irrelevant?" Jay asked laughing and kissing the top of Carlos's head.

"Still yeah, kinda." Carlos told him. "Might need a little more convincing than that." He said lifting his face for a kiss. Jay happily obliged, bringing their lips together, his arm still around Carlos's shoulder. Up there it felt like they were on top of the world. Everyone seemed so small, and all Jay had to worry about in that moment was if Carlos was happy. He didn't need to worry about harsh comments, disgusted faces, or even physical attacks. Up there, they were free. 

End. 


End file.
